Among the various conventionally-known vehicle bumper structures, bumper structures are in actual use today which include a bumper beam mounted on a vehicle body via extensions and having an impact-absorbing gusset provided on its outer surface. With the currently-used vehicle bumper structures, it has been sufficient, from a practical viewpoint, to adjust, as necessary, rigidity of the bumper beam and impact-absorbing capability of the gusset. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI-06-286536 discloses an example of such a vehicle bumper structure where the gusset is formed of an aluminum or aluminum alloy.
FIG. 6 hereof is a perspective view explanatory of a fundamental construction of the vehicle bumper structure 200 disclosed in the No. HEI-6-286536 publication, which generally comprises a bumper beam 201 formed as a hollow member and a gusset 203 adhered to an outer surface 202 of the bumper beam 201. The gusset 203 is a hollow extruded member formed of an aluminum or aluminum alloy and has inner vertical ribs 204 formed integrally with the inner surface of the gusset body.
However, if a distance between a bumper face (not shown) and the bumper beam 201 is very small and/or if the outer surface 202 of the bumper beam 201 is partly slanted for a design- or appearance-related reason, then the gusset 203 can not appropriately direct applied impact energy to the slanted surface. Further, when adhering the gusset 203 to the bumper beam 201, the adhering operation has to be performed with the outer surface of the gusset 203 oriented upwardly. Or, if the adhering operation is performed with the bumper beam 201 already mounted on the vehicle body, there arises a need to keep the gusset 203 fixed relative to the bumper beam 201 by means of a jig or the like until the adhesive agent is sufficiently cured.